Got any stats on the mortgages issued? In the last housing boom I was concerned about the rate of buyers being over-leveraged and found that 80%+ of Seattle area mortgages were less than 5% down - that was a red flag for me to sell ASAP. Despite having bought a place only a month before I found out, I tried desperately to sell (nobody wanted to sell a place that had a lawsuit against the HOA and I was unlucky to have a lender whose underwriters didn't care when everyone else did) and get out of the impending doom but couldn't.
Last I remember in northern Virginia around Fairfax and Vienna (early 2015) more than 80%+ of home purchases were cash-only purchases and with median of 850k - this differs drastically from what you're seeing in DC though it seems. I did notice that my real estate agent was strongly pressuring me to buy when I wasn't ready to buy nor had the $150k+ to put down. Even worse, Virginia (and I think DC) is a recourse state so if house prices crash again you'd be on the hook to pay the difference back resulting in a likely bankruptcy or a debt burden that makes most student loan debt look laughable if all your equity and then some is erased.
Last I remember in northern Virginia around Fairfax and Vienna (early 2015) more than 80%+ of home purchases were cash-only purchases and with median of 850k - this differs drastically from what you're seeing in DC though it seems. I did notice that my real estate agent was strongly pressuring me to buy when I wasn't ready to buy nor had the $150k+ to put down. Even worse, Virginia (and I think DC) is a recourse state so if house prices crash again you'd be on the hook to pay the difference back resulting in a likely bankruptcy or a debt burden that makes most student loan debt look laughable if all your equity and then some is erased.